


Inor Athem'anvires Melava (In a Different Universe)

by clcrianpavus



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Cullen has a Mabari, F/M, First Meetings, Fluff, Modern Era, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, all au's, i'm a huge dork and will be making lots of vague references
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-17
Updated: 2015-11-17
Packaged: 2018-05-02 04:22:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,807
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5233928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clcrianpavus/pseuds/clcrianpavus
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A collection of little AU stories from a list I found on tumblr, mostly to flex out my writing skills, partially because I'm a sucker for fluff. Tags will be updated accordingly to the content.</p>
<p>Current Chapter: 1 - Cullen x Lavellan, 'Hi sorry I live below you and I hear your dog running around and barking all the time and- no no it's fine I was just hoping maybe I could pet it?' AU</p>
            </blockquote>





	Inor Athem'anvires Melava (In a Different Universe)

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to fenxshiral for the wonderful elvish lexicon I've used to create the title. (In case you're wondering, it literally means 'inside a separate stream of time'.)

* * *

**AU: 'Hi sorry I live below you and I hear your dog running around and barking all the time and- no no it's fine I was just hoping maybe I could pet it?'**

* * *

 

_"Bark! Bark bark!"_

Cullen closes the door to his flat and exhales softly, still panting slightly from his run. He matches his dog, he thinks, as he turns to see Calenhad panting at him, eyes bright and tongue hanging out of his mouth, and he laughs. It's the same whenever he comes home. A few barks upon opening the door, then just  _staring_ until he turns to pet the creature. Which he does. Every time. This time, he squats down to the dog's level and gives him a firm scratching behind the ears, to which Calenhad gives a soft " _W_ _oof"_ of approval. Together, they pad into the kitchen and Cullen gives him a scoop of kibble. He'll eat later - for now, he'll stick with showering.

~

Later, after his post-exercise shower, Cullen is eating leftover Thai takeout - a pad mee, with chicken bits. (He definitely does not give a few pieces to Calenhad.) He has a noodle halfway into his mouth when someone knocks on the door and makes the dog bark a few times. He slurps the rest of his bite into his mouth and stands straight from leaning against the counter, placing the dish down, then goes to answer; he almost opens the door before realising he hasn't put on a shirt yet. "Just a minute," he shouts through the door, and grabs the first top he finds, which is a red hoodie.  _It'll have to do,_ he thinks, pulling it on and returning to the door, then opening it.

Before him stands one of the most beautiful women he has ever seen. She's elven, with delicate pointed ears exposed by a messy red ponytail and swirling, pale blue lines along her face that contrast well with the tan of her skin. Her eyes are a deep brown and her mouth is-

Speaking. Oops.

"-I live below you and I hear your dog running around and barking all the time," she says, and though he didn't hear the first part (which he's sure is probably her name and he's very sorry to have missed it), the rest makes him begin an apology. 

"I'm so sorry, I don't mean to cause you any trouble-"

She looks startled and interrupts him. "No, no, it's fine! Absolutely fine. I was... just hoping I could pet it?" And there, on her face, is one of the most hesitantly hopeful faces he has ever seen. Her mouth is pulled into an almost-smile, more of an embarrassed grimace really, and her shoulders are curled inwards just a little, as if she expects defeat. He almost laughs.  _Almost._

But he just nods and opens the door the whole way, gesturing for her to come inside while stumbling over a greeting of some kind. "Of- of course! Sorry about the mess, I've been meaning to clean, just haven't had the time recently-"

"Oh it's fine, my flat's probably worse, plus you weren't expecting me." He thinks she's very gracious, as he has stacks of paper littered around the place, remnants of the take-home work that he so often does, and some dishes that he hasn't gotten around to cleaning. But after he closes the door and turns to her, it appears as though she is barely paying him any attention - she is, instead, swivelling her head around in search of the dog, making her ponytail swing. It just makes him smile. At least someone else in the building is a dog person; as far as he can tell, most of them prefer cats. (He has had to provide many, many apologies for Calenhad chasing after them.)

As she still hasn't found the dog - where  _has_ he gotten to? - Cullen calls, "Calenhad! Here boy!" and this is all it takes for him to come running. He bounds up to Cullen, but stops before he reaches him, sliding on the wood floors when he tries to stop and evaluate the new person in the room. Cullen watches her eyes light up and she positively  _squeals_ with excitement as the dog approaches her and sniffs her hand, which she has reached out to him. As soon as he licks it, indicating his approval, she sits on the woven rug and begins to scratch behind his ears and tell him what a cute puppy he is and how he seems very well behaved.

"You know he's a puppy?" Cullen asks, intrigued, and she nods, but does not turn her head from the dog still. He might be annoyed if it wasn't so very endearing the way she was focusing all her attention on stroking Calenhad.

"I was raised on a farm," she says, briefly gesturing to her face, "as you can probably tell." Her tattoos are the marks of the Dalish - the rural elves who normally spend most of their lives outside of cities, as far as he knows. "My parents had a kennel as part of it. We used to have little Mabari running around all over the place. They would scare the sheep sometimes when they tried to play with them, though." She smiles fondly and buries her head into Calenhad's neck. The dog gives a small  _"Woof"_ in reply.

"Ah, I forgot my manners. Would you like a drink?" Finally, she looks up to him, and suddenly Cullen becomes aware of how his hair must be curling in the ridiculous manner it does a little while after a shower. He's tempted to run a hand through it, but that often makes it worse, so he settles his hand on his neck instead.

"I'll take a Spindleweed tea please, if you've got any," she replies politely, and though he himself doesn't drink it, one of his co-workers does occasionally, so he should have it in stock in his cupboards. He pivots on his heel into the kitchen and turns on the kettle, getting a mug out for the both of them, as he actually wants a coffee. While the water boils he reaches to one of the topmost shelves and grabs the dog biscuit tin, meaning to give it to the woman in a moment.  _Damn it._ He still doesn't know her name. The kettle finishes just as he hears a snuffling sound and a laugh from the other room, so he makes her tea and his coffee and even lays out sugar, honey and milk on a tray to bring the drinks in with, tucking the tin under his arm and bringing in the tray.

When he returns, Calenhad is on top of his guest and butting his nose into her face. But she is smiling and laughing, and  _Maker's Breath_ if that isn't the prettiest sound Cullen's ever heard. He sets the tray on the coffee table and clears some papers off the sofa and the armchair so that she may sit opposite him as he reclines into the chair. She notices, and gently pushes the dog off of her, still laughing and wiping her cheek with the sleeve of her navy cardigan by the time she sits on the sofa. She takes her tea with a spoonful of honey and no milk. (He pretends he doesn't make a mental note of that.) She inhales steam, sips, and leans back into the cushions.

"Oh!" she exclaims, eyes wide. "I'm so sorry. So sorry! I just barged in here and didn't even ask your name! I'm so sorry-"

"Cullen," he tells her, with a little laughter mixed into it. "At your service."

"I-" She blinks owlishly at him. "I just forgot my own name for a moment! I'm Ellana."  _Ellana. Of course it is,_ he thinks, and wonders how her name could have been anything but perfectly suited to her. "And your dog's name is Calenhad. Which I love, by the way."

"My younger sister, Rosalie, named him," he tells her, chuckling. "She's always been very interested in history and politics, so I'm not sure what I expected when I asked her for a suggestion."

"Well, I think it suits him. Calenhad the Great." Ellana nods firmly, as if to solidify his name, and Calenhad himself howls softly at her, making her smile brightly.

"I brought the biscuits out, if you'd like to give him one." Both of the others in his house perk up, making him laugh at the comparison as she sets her tea down to treat the puppy. She makes him roll over before letting him have it.

"So what brought you to Haven?" she asks, picking up her tea again.

He shrugs. "Work, mostly. A friend of mine recently started a business and asked me to be a part of it. I doubt you've heard of Inquisition Marketing Services before-"

"No way! I'm actually going to work there soon."

"Hmm," Cullen mutters. "I should have seen your CV. I'm the personnel manager."

Ellana shrugs. "Oh, well, it's not super official yet. My friend Leliana said she'd get me in. It'll be my first job in a big city, but I'm very good at coding, so I think it should be fine."

Cullen would have coughed on his coffee if he hadn't finished it already.

"You know Leliana?"

"Well, she's sort of dating my cousin Lyna, so yeah." Ellana glanced upwards, over Cullen's head, and gasped. "Creators! Oh, man, this is bad bad bad!" Suddenly, she stands, and so Cullen does too; even Calenhad joins in, rising to a sitting position and staring confusedly at the both of them. The clock is on the wall. _That's what she must've looked at._ "I'm so sorry! I totally forgot, I'm meant to have a video chat with my parents literally right now." She rushes to the door, and Cullen, in a slight daze, follows her. It takes him a moment to realise that she can't get the door open.

"Here, let me," he says, twisting the handle up instead of down. The door pops open.

They are closer than he thought they were. She is short, and he is tall, so he's looking down at her for a moment before she blinks and remembers herself. "I- uhm, thanks for letting me pet your dog," she tells him, her voice a little bit high. Hesitantly, she lays her hand on his forearm, which is still holding the door open for her. "I'll see you soon, I hope." Then, before he can get a word in, she's off, down the hall and to the stairs. Cullen just stands in his doorway, mind rushing a million miles per second, until Calenhad barks and removes him from his reverie. The door closes.

When he turns to Calenhad, Cullen could swear the dog is smirking.

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, thanks for reading this. It's my first AO3 fic and I don't know, I guess I just wanted to do some drabble-y things to test it out? So any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks! (Also maybe suggest a pairing? It could be romance or friendship, and I'll check out my AU list to find one that could fit.)


End file.
